The byproduct of a much anticipated, long-delayed, and ultimately scrapped album to have been called Technopop (and to have contained Kraftwerk's great dance single "Tour de France"), 1986's Electric Cafe suffers only slig... more &raquohtly from lacking the thematic focus of previous Kraftwerk albums. Ironically, the '80s techno-pop wave had passed by band founders Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter at this point, but their sly wit ("Boing Boom Tschak," "Telephone," "Sex Object") and melodic inventiveness still stand the test of time. Its segues virtually seamless, Electric Cafe plays like one mega-dance-mix, but with the tasteful restraint that has long been a Kraftwerk hallmark. This is club music for thinking men and women. --Jerry McCulley&laquo less

Synopsis

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The byproduct of a much anticipated, long-delayed, and ultimately scrapped album to have been called Technopop (and to have contained Kraftwerk's great dance single "Tour de France"), 1986's Electric Cafe suffers only slightly from lacking the thematic focus of previous Kraftwerk albums. Ironically, the '80s techno-pop wave had passed by band founders Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter at this point, but their sly wit ("Boing Boom Tschak," "Telephone," "Sex Object") and melodic inventiveness still stand the test of time. Its segues virtually seamless, Electric Cafe plays like one mega-dance-mix, but with the tasteful restraint that has long been a Kraftwerk hallmark. This is club music for thinking men and women. --Jerry McCulley

CD Reviews

Boom Boing Chuck

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/09/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The last Kraftwerk album of the 20th Century was looked on rather softly at the time. After all, it was almost five years since the boundary shattering "Computer World." Hip-hop was already starting to find electronic sampling as a source of inspiration, and suddenly, those ideas seemed a bit old hat. However, I have always considered the original side one of this album to be a masterwork of electronic music, on a par with Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" or even "Autobahn."

Those first three pieces, "Boing Boom Tschak," "Tecno Pop" and "Musique Non Stop," formed a perfectly building suite of the machines that make the music, building from the elemental three words to the final explanation of purpose. "Boing Boom Tschak" (pronounced 'chuck') set out everything that Kraftwerk considers musical in three simple words. The electronic percussion begins to layer underneath and "Techno Pop" is born. Finally, "synthetic electronic sounds, industrial rhythms all around" wrap it all up. It is as close to a summation of electronica as has ever been recorded, and I love "Electric Cafe" because of it.

The other half of the CD is pedestrian by comparison. Where before Kraftwerk would lay down electronically altered robot-voices, this time much of the work is sampled. "The Telephone Call" was a minor dance hit, but it seems less groundbreaking and more of the times. Same with "Sex Object," which seems like the aftermath of "Computer Love" - "you turn me on, then you forget." The CD comes to a satisfying conclusion with the title track, a chill piece. Little did we know that it was the last we would hear from them till 2006 and the "Tour de France Soundtracks." Fortunately, the art on the front may be the only thing on the album that's dated. "Electric Cafe" has really gathered luster over the years."

"This album made a LOT of Kraftwerk fans ex-fans in 1986. Even then, I didn't especially like the minimal proto-techno of the first 3 tracks, but 20 years later it's hard to see what the fuss was over. I like it now! It has a lot over tons of lame techno I've heard in the meantime! But tracks 4-6 were clearly successful even then, being much richer musically than the rest of the album. "Telephone Call" and "Sex Object" are prime Kraftwerk, full of stimulating electronic and acoustic eddies and currents of sound."